Southern Tenant Farmers Union facts for kids
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| Abbreviation | S.T.F.U. |
|---|---|
| Merged into | Amalgamated Meat Cutters and Butcher Workmen |
| Founded | July 18, 1934 |
| Dissolved | July 29, 1960 (26 years and 11 days) |
| Headquarters | Tyronza, Arkansas; later Memphis, Tennessee |
| Location | |
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Membership
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35,000 (peak) |
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Key people
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H. L. Mitchell Clay East E. B. McKinney |
| Affiliations | |
The Southern Tenant Farmers Union (STFU) was a special group (a "union") that existed from 1934 to 1960. It was created to help farmers in the Southern United States. Many of these farmers were "tenant farmers" or "sharecroppers." This means they rented land or shared their crops with landowners instead of owning the land themselves. Many Black farmers, whose families had been enslaved, were also tenant farmers.
The STFU started in July 1934 during a tough time called the Great Depression. Its main goal was to get better deals and working conditions for tenant farmers. They wanted a fairer share of the money from their crops or from government help. The union was formed because of a government program called the Agricultural Adjustment Act (AAA).
The AAA was part of President Franklin D. Roosevelt's plan, called the New Deal. This plan aimed to help the struggling farming industry and the economy. The AAA paid landowners to grow fewer crops. The idea was that less food would make prices go up, helping farmers earn more. Landowners were supposed to share this money with their tenant farmers. However, most landowners kept the money for themselves.
The Southern Tenant Farmers Union was special because it welcomed people of all races. This was rare in the 1930s. They believed in peaceful protests to get their fair share of the AAA money. They also worked hard to show that Black and white people could work together effectively. But the union faced strong opposition from landowners and local officials. STFU leaders were often bothered, attacked, and sadly, some were even killed.
In the 1930s, the union was active in states like Arkansas, Oklahoma, Mississippi, Missouri, Tennessee, and Texas. It later grew to other southeastern states and even California. Its main office was in Memphis, Tennessee. From 1948 to 1960, it was based in Washington, D.C.. The union later changed its name to the National Agricultural Workers Union and then the Agricultural and Allied Workers Union.
Why the STFU Started
Farming in the South struggled after World War I. Also, natural disasters in the 1920s and 1930s made things worse for farmers. When the Great Depression hit, farming in the South was already in a weak state. To help, the government under President Roosevelt started programs to reduce how much food was grown. This meant fewer sharecroppers and farmers were needed in the fields.
These government policies, especially from the AAA, caused many tenant farmers to lose their jobs and homes. H. L. Mitchell, a sharecropper and a believer in socialist ideas, and Clay East, a gas station owner, saw that government money was mostly going to plantation owners. Tenant farmers and sharecroppers were left without help. So, East and Mitchell started a group called the Unemployed League in Tyronza, Arkansas. They wanted to fight for the federal aid to be shared with the farm workers. The Unemployed League helped distribute some aid, but it soon broke up.
The idea of helping farmers came back in 1934 when the STFU was created. The STFU's main goal was to make sure that the New Deal money reached the tenant farmers. Later, the union wanted to become a strong group that could bargain for workers' rights, like unions in big cities. However, plantation owners used violence and threats against STFU leaders and members. For example, the union's president, William H. Stultz, was arrested and threatened.
One of the union's first actions was to file a lawsuit. They wanted to make sure sharecroppers received their fair share of government money, as the AAA intended.
The union also wrote many letters to protest when hundreds of farmers were forced off their land. The STFU sent five men to Washington, D.C., to talk to the Secretary of Agriculture, Henry A. Wallace. Two African American leaders, E. B. McKinney and N. W. Webb, were chosen to go and speak out against the evictions.
The STFU had its first strike in 1935. Cotton pickers wanted better pay. Cotton planters wanted to pay 40 cents for every 100 pounds of cotton picked. But the union, led by H. L. Mitchell, demanded one dollar. After a few days, many plantations offered 75 cents, and some even offered a dollar. This was a big win for the union.
In 1939, STFU members organized protests in Missouri. Hundreds of cotton sharecroppers said they were being kicked off their land. Landlords didn't want to share the federal AAA checks with them. A New Deal agency called the Farm Security Administration helped by providing affordable housing for 500 families. In 1939, they gave $500,000 in grants to 11,000 families in that area. The protest eventually ended as different political groups argued for control, and STFU membership dropped.
During World War II, the STFU leaders told their members to find jobs outside of farming in Arkansas. They even set up a way to help over 10,000 workers move to jobs in the northern and eastern parts of the United States.
After World War II, the STFU changed its name to the National Farm Labor Union. It became part of the American Federation of Labor. This led the organization to start working in California. There, the NFLU was involved in a big strike at the DiGiorgio Fruit Corporation in 1947. After a year and a half, the union succeeded in making conditions better for its workers. The union also organized 30,000 people for a strike in Corcoran, California. This strike was to fight against pay cuts for cotton pickers. The strike helped workers get their wages back or even increased them.
Working with Other Groups
When the Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO) created a group for farm workers, the United Cannery, Agricultural, Packing, and Allied Workers of America (UCAPAWA), the STFU joined them. They hoped to become stronger. However, the STFU worried that UCAPAWA's leaders, who had communist ideas, might take over. They also feared that UCAPAWA's ways might break the good relationship between Black and white members in the STFU. So, the STFU decided to leave the CIO in 1939. After that, UCAPAWA focused on workers who processed food instead of farm workers.
By 1934, the Communist Party USA was willing to work with other groups, including progressives and socialists. They started helping farm workers and other organizations in the South to create a stronger "Popular Front." The STFU was one of many unions that joined this group. The STFU benefited from working with the Communist Party because the groups in the Front supported each other in protests against plantation owners. Not all STFU members were communists; most belonged to different political groups or had different ideas.
The STFU was not always comfortable working with the Communist Party. There were problems like money issues, lack of financial help from the party, and different goals. These issues caused the alliance to break. By separating from the Communist Party, the union kept its important alliance between white and Black workers, which was key to its identity.
Union Leaders
The government money from the Agricultural Adjustment Act (AAA) mostly went to plantation owners. This AAA program was supposed to reduce food production and raise food prices to help the farming economy. But Mitchell, East, and other liberal members of the AAA saw that this program hurt farm workers, leaving many jobless. So, they created and led the Southern Tenant Farmers Union (STFU) to fight against this unfair distribution of money.
The leaders of the STFU, like Mitchell and East, attracted many socialists and people who supported the New Deal. Clay East also helped spread socialist ideas in Tyronza by selling a successful newspaper called American Guardian. Because East sold so many copies, the small town became known as "Red Square." Also, about 1,000 people joined socialist groups there, including a good number of African Americans.
The union leaders decided to let regular members have more say in how the union was run. This was called "rank and file leadership." But they soon found it hard to organize. Some farm workers wanted the union to be a strict, military-like group, while others wanted it run like a business. As more people joined the union, the leadership from the farm workers themselves also got better.
Race and Unity
In the first STFU groups, there weren't many racial problems because Black and white people lived and worked closely. But when the STFU grew into bigger towns, racial tensions were more common. In these towns, the STFU created separate groups for Black and white members. They sent organizers of the same race to gain trust. For example, white organizers went to white groups, and African American organizers went to African American groups. E. B. McKinney was an organizer and the first African American to become vice president of the union. He was also active in the Socialist party with Clay East. Owen Whitfield was another important African American leader linked to the STFU.
Even though racial tensions were strong in the South, the STFU managed to create cooperation between races within the union. In Marked Tree, Arkansas, the African American group invited the white group to their meeting. In this meeting, white and Black people sat together and worked for a common goal. This made Mitchell believe that a united movement of all races was possible in other areas too. Indeed, most of the union's important events and meetings included both Black and white members.
Even though Mitchell wanted a union where all races worked together, he noticed differences in how Black and white members acted. African Americans in the union had a strong sense of working together and unity. Because of this unity, they were better at resisting unfair treatment through group action. On the other hand, white members were more individualistic, and it was easier for managers to pressure them.
See also
- Louise Boyle, a photographer who took pictures of STFU farmers in Arkansas in 1937
- STFU publications
